Research documenting the profound influence of the infant's early social environment on his subsequent health and development has prompted health professionals to place greater emphasis on creating services that promote the socio-emotional resources available to the infant in the emerging family. The necessity for such services is underscored by the sharp decline in the number of intact families, dramatically reflecting the increasing difficulty couples have in achieving modern parenting and marital roles that are both functional and rewarding. One potential avenue that has been largely ignored by health professionals in their effort to enhance the quality of the infant's social experiences and to strengthen the family unit is the provision of services that support the father in assuming a more mutual, direct, and active role in the nurturance of his infant. The purpose of the proposed study is to formulate, implement, and evaluate nursing interventions that are specifically designed to promote the father-infant relationship directly and to facilitate the healthy transition of couples to parenthood. The intervention component relies upon nurse clinicians providing structured support, information, and direction to the emerging family in both individual and group settings, beginning in the second trimester of pregnancy and extending through the first six months postpartum. The evaluation component involves a quasi-experimental, longitudinal (through nine months postpartum) design which allows for the comparison of families that have been randomly assigned to receive the intervention with those families assigned to routine care only. Attitudinal and behavioral responses will be assessed in both home and laboratory settings, with outcomes of the intervention to be evaluated along three dimensions: the nature and quality of the father-infant relationship; the nature and quality of the marital relationship; and the overall physical and socio-emotional health and development of the infant. It is expected that the results of our study will provide a sound empirical base for future nursing interventions in other settings, as well as further contribute to our general understanding of the needs of the emerging family.